Exponential Interview Questions
& Process

So, first there was this paper/pen test with 22 questions covering QA/VA/LR, and we only had 30 minutes. I ended up leaving the harder ones for last and got about 17 right, so speed and accuracy were super important. After that, we had a group discussion (GD) and then one personal interview. The interview was a mix of HR and Technical stuff. They mostly asked questions from my resume, especially about my hobbies and interests. It's really key not to put anything fake on your resume because it's tough to back it up. For example, I put Football as an interest, and they ended up asking me about my favorite club and who was Chelsea's manager before Jose Mourinho. You really need to be sure about everything you write on it. They also threw in a puzzle and some math problems.

The interviews were set up chronologically. The most senior person I spoke with first via Skype, asking about my current project and then setting me up for the next rounds. In my second interview, which was face-to-face, I was asked a lot about optimizations and Java threading, among other things. He agreed with most of my solutions and asked me to call HR, but HR had already left for the day. A few days later, another Skype interview was scheduled where we discussed my willingness to join their team and some other questions. I offered several solutions based on his requirements, and he was happy with them.

The phone interview process was dragged out for several weeks. Then they brought me in for a 4-hour interview. At the end they simply send me an email saying I did not have enough experience. It took them several weeks to establish whether or not I had enough work experience? Experience is not a difficult issue to establish. They are either dishonest or need to seriously rework how they gather information. Before dragging me through weeks of interviewing, they could have established that I lacked experience sooner, or come up with a better reason. Maybe this process will go better for most people, but I can't help but feel that they wasted my time.

While they asked some standard interview questions, they focused a lot on personal questions that didn't seem relevant or appropriate for the job. They kept emphasizing how they were 'young and hip' and that the candidate had to be willing to attend social events after work. It felt less like a job interview and more like a popularity contest or a fraternity/sorority rush. They also gave me an Excel skills test and a math problem about a metric I'd never encountered, both with a very tight deadline.